Tommy White leads LSU baseball to pivotal Game 1 win against Ole Miss
BATON ROUGE — The ball screamed off Tommy White's bat through the air on a low plane to straightaway center field, eventually hitting the base of the wall.
Ole Miss centerfielder Ethan Groff misjudged the bounce off the wall and the ball scooted past him. White noticed the gaffe as he reached second and proceeded to turn on the jets before comfortably sliding into third for the triple in the third inning.
With LSU baseball fighting for its postseason life, what better time for its star to record his first career triple?
The Tigers' offense came out firing, led by White, as they won 5-1 in Game 1 in a pivotal series against Rebels on Friday night at Alex Box Stadium.
The series is scheduled to resume at 6:30 p.m. Friday night.
REQUIRED READING LSU baseball's game vs Ole Miss will come out of weather delay at this time
Tommy White powers LSU baseball past Ole Miss
White jumpstarted the engine for LSU's offense and did so early. He smoked a single in the first before his first triple.
The Tigers (34-20, 11-17 SEC) led 4-0 before White's RBI single in the fourth scored Alex Milazzo to extend their lead to 5-0, which was plenty of cushion.
White finished the game 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run. For the game, LSU had eight hits.
Gage Jump keeps Ole Miss lineup off balance
His last start at Alabama wasn't wanted he wanted so sophomore starter Gage Jump said he went back to the drawing board and worked on some things.
Despite letting the leadoff runner safely reach in the first inning Friday, Jump did a great job of pitching around jams early, forcing the Rebels to strand four baserunners.
After the early sweat, Jump settled in and ended up striking out eight before an hour-and-thirty-plus-minute weather delay ultimately spelled the end of his outing. Jump pitched six frames, allowing one run on five hits along with a pair of walks.
LSU clinches SEC Baseball Tournament berth with win over Ole Miss
All LSU needed was to win one game this series or have Missouri lose one game in its series at Mississippi State this weekend to lock up one of the 12 spots in next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover.
The Tigers removed all suspense and took care of business in the first game of the series with Ole Miss.
LSU has made the SEC Tournament every season since 2007.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Tommy White leads LSU baseball past Ole Miss in Game 1 of SEC series
